4-Bet Bluffs (3) - Theory
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4-Bet Bluffs (3) - Theory
by Miiwiin
In the third part of this series, you'll get to know more about the following topics:
- Why 4-bet at all?
- Balancing
- Raise sizes
- Your equity
- Bluff / value hands
- Important opponent stats
- Ideal opponents
- Possible hands
- Villains 3-bet range and the card removal effect
- Bluff frequencies in general
- Bluff frequencies dependent on the situation (table image, game flow, history)
- Your position
- What do you do after a call?
- Alternatives
- Tilt resistance
Your position
Position certainly needs to be taken into consideration when deciding whether it's worth bluffing or not.
That doesn't just mean your position but also that of the 3-better. So you not only need to determine if you're playing in or out of position, you also need to look at the reasons why Villain might 3-bet.
He too needs to estimate your range and give himself advantages. So if you raise from the small blind for example and the big blind 3-bets you, then he's doing so with a very wide range. Nobody else can act, he is in position and rarely gives you a strong hand.
Precisely the opposite is the case if your raise from first position fails and the players in middle position 3-bet you. In this case you need to give yourself a strong range and understand that four more players can still act behind you.
You can roughly define 5 cases in these spots:
- Out of position, you raise from early position, late position 3-bets
- Out of position, you raise from late position, late position 3-bets
- Out of position, you raise from the small blind, big blind 3-bets
- In position, you raise from early postion, a blind 3-bets
- In position, you raise from late position, a blind 3-bets
Why are these differences so important? Two important factors play a role here. Balancing and your opponent's range.
Put simple this means: firstly you want to play this move regularly, which may mean you want to steal regularly, you want a loose imaage and you don't want to be regularly 3-bet.
On the other hand, you want to play against the wide 3-bet range of your opponent, as he will have to fold the majority of this. You have to take these two factors into account when analysing the situation. Here you assume a TAG/LAG, who, in your opinion, knows how to handle 3-bets.
In the first example, you raise from UTG and get a 3-bet from the button.
Preflop: Hero is UTG with XX
Hero raises to $4.00, 2 folds, BU raises to $12.00, 2 folds, Hero...
Balancing:
You'll come across this situation regularly with Axo/Axs as well as suited connectors. Balancing is important in as much as you can't fold your suited connectors every time here. The playability out of position would be quite bad with a 3-bet call.
You'll also find the following problem: you'll 4-bet bluff this situation very rarely if at all, so your 4-bet here can clearly be classified as a value raise. This means your opponents can rather read and out bluff you. Never forget: raise/4-bet from UTG is an extremely strong move.
Villain's 3-bet range:
Villain has an advantage and a disadvantage here. On one hand, your open/raising range from UTG isn't very wide, on the other he has the best position at the table. Put bluntly: on the button, he will think he can profitably 3-bet any two.
Result:
A 4-bet bluff generates a lot of fold equity here. It can be important for balancing your game, in addition you aren't forced into a very tight range. Still, in such a spot you should be focusing on your opponent and you shouldn't overdo it.
This time you're stealing from the cut-off, as the button behind you plays a re-steal.
Preflop: Hero is CO with XX
2 folds, Hero raises to $4.00, BU raises to $12.00, 2 folds, Hero...
Balancing:
You open/raise a very wide range here, meaning the button can also loosely 3-bet you. This spot is quite common. The arguements from the previous examples are even more pertinent here. Balancing, however, occurs in the background, making it clear to both players that they could find themselves in a steal/re-steal situation (albeit without the blinds).
Villain's 3-bet range:
His range is very loose here. In fact, it's widest in spots like this (similar to SB vs. BB).
Result:
Balancing is needed here too, though not as drastically as in example 1. Still, the fold equity is quite a bit higher, so Villain can loose 3-bet his full bluff range. Ideally, you'll have achieved some card removal effect with this hand.
You steal from the small blind in the blind battle and the big blind 3-bets.
Preflop: Hero is SB with XX
4 folds, Hero raises to $4.00, BB raises to $12.00, Hero...
Balancing:
You want to try to steal the big blind as often as possible. What's stopping you are light calls and light 3-bets from your opponent. Continually playing raise/fold wouldn't make a lot of sense, however, Villain will always have the position advantage and you'll find it hard here too to call a 3-bet out of position, despite the blinds battle.
Try to find out which hands you opponent 3-bets with here and which he rather just calls. As the big blind, many good hands with respectable playability in position are only called.
This only leaves the options to open/raise less or 4-bet more.
Villain's 3-bet range:
Similar to example 2, this is at it's loosest. He's in position against you again, no other player can react anymore and he more or less confronts you with the decision to 4-bet or fold out of position.
Result:
The 4-bet also generates high fold equity in the blinds battle here, as despite possible loose raise and 3-bet ranges, Villain can only sensibly fold or push after your 4-bet.
If your opponent is a step ahead here and pushes loosely, you should consider right from the start if you should rather use your hands which have good equity to balance, so as rather than playing 4-bet/fold, you play 4-bet/call.
You've open/raised UTG and the big blind has 3-bet.
Preflop: Hero is UTG with XX
Hero raises to $4.00, 4 folds, BB raises to $12.00, Hero...
Balancing:
This spot is quite rare. Your UTG raise show's strength, Villain shows strength with a 3-bet out of position against your early raise. There's little reason to balance here or to think that your dealing with a loose 3-bet.
Villain's 3-bet range:
There's little sense in bluffing here as well from your point of view. His range is strong here, as he must not play bluff hands and can simply call last to act with lots of value hands instead of playing 3-bet/fold.
Result:
If you think your opponent has few hads he could 3-bet/fold here, then a 4-bet bluff doesn't make any sense. You should generally give up spots like this.
You stole on the button and the small blind 3-bets you.
Preflop: Hero is BU with XX
2 folds, Hero raises to $4.00, SB raises to $12.00, 1 fold, Hero...
Balancing:
In contrast, this situation occurs frequently. You steal on the button (analogue from the cutoff) and one of the blinds actively defends by 3-betting. You have the advantage of being able to act with a call in position. The 4-bet will also generate a lot of fold equity here, as Villain's range can certainly be seen as loose.
Villain's 3-bet range:
As a blind defend, Villain will 3-bet quite a loose range against you here, generally only based on fold equity. In addition, Villain knows that he can't profitably play a lot of hands against you out of position (SCs, small PPs) and may also 3-bet/fold weak hands as a semi-bluff, as he's also concerned about the playability out of position (e.g. AJ-/KQ-). A 4-bet is very appropriate against this range.
Result:
A 4-bet is a profitable move against this range. You can balance your steals here against the high fold equity. If you regularly raise/4-bet in situations like this, you won't be so lightly 3-bet any more, which is very beneficial to you in the spots where you want to steal as the button.
What do you do after a call?
It shouldn't occur very often, but now and then opponents will be on a trip to call a 4-bet. Giving them a range is incredibly difficult here.
Superficially you could assume it's often an attempt at a trap with hands such as KK+. This may make a lot of sense, especially if you get an opponent that 4-bets quite lightly.
If you regularly 4-bet/fold, you'll get less credit for the 4-bet, on the other hand, some players will be worried about their pay out from their strong hands. So ocassionally, strong hands will be called solely in the hope that you'll risk your neck bluffing on the flop and the turn and go broke very lightly.
However, there are stacks of other hands with which opponents could call a 4-bet. For example:
- AK/AQ waiting for a hit
- QQ-TT initially wanting to wait for a non A/K- flop
- Suited hands such as KQs, partly suited connectors as well who like the odds
Clearly there's no general rule here. However, you need to be really careful that your advantage which gives you the loose 4-bet preflop, isn't broken by excessive postflop play.
On the other hand you'll often find yourself in such situations with Ax/Kx hands or suited connectors. If you've hit a draw, you'll have to play aggressively, hardly anybody can still spoil your odds. If you have top pair then you'll equally hardly be able to get out of the hand.
However, value bets and protection are just in the background. Inducing a bluff may appear sensible here as, if you don't bet the flop, a lot of players will feel it's necessary to bluff lots of boards on the turn.
Even though it may sound stupid, you need to be creative here too. Small continuation bets are sometimes strikingly simple here. As the pot is quite big anyway, you need to try not to commit yourself with a bet if you want to bluff again.
A 2/5 pot size bet will often do the trick here, as almost no opponents will give themselves fold equity and you'll generally get enough information.
PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
UTG ($100)
MP ($100)
CO ($100)
Hero ($100)
SB ($100)
BB ($100)
Preflop: Hero is BU with 6
, 7
3 folds, BU raises to $4.00, 1 fold, BB raises to $13.00, Hero raises to $32.00, BB calls
Flop: ($64.50) A
, T
, 5
(2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $25.00, BB has a problem...
The advantage in spots like this is that you can fold to a push with a smile. You correctly always fold the weaker hand and can happily establish that it could have worked.
You could, for example, invest $25 to win $64.50. That means this move has to work in about 28% of cases. Itwill too, as other than AK/AQ, all hands have a big problem and can hardly re-bluff.
Nonetheless, you should be very careful in spots like this and develop a sense for what your opponent calls with. As mentioned, there are different types of opponents here.
Alternatives
Weighing up all the alternatives is essential in poker. The play with the biggest expected value ideal, depending on the moment. As long as it has a positive deception and balancing effect through your entire play, so much the better.
Think here about the options in part 2:
- All opponents fold.
- Opponents call, you bluff on the flop unimproved.
- Opponents call, you hit on the flop.
- An opponent 3-bets, you call and bluff on the flop unimproved.
- An opponent 3-bets, you call and hit on the flop.
- An opponent 3-bets, you 4-bet and call a push.
- An opponent 3-bets, you 4-bet and fold to a push.
The decision doesn't have to just be between 4-bet or fold. You also have the opportunity to just call a 3-bet in position.
Hands such as suited connectors are also suitable here, as long as you act in position. If an aggressive blind 3-bets you, for example, you can plan to move postflop. You balance the rest with hands which you just call for pot control (possible AQ-(KQ-) or with which you want to trap (QQ+).
PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
UTG ($100)
MP ($100)
CO ($100)
Hero ($100)
SB ($100)
BB ($100)
Preflop: Hero is BU with 6 , 7
3 folds, BU raises to $4.00, 1 fold, BB raises to $13.00, Hero calls
Flop: ($26.50) T, 4, 5 (2 players)
BB bets $17.00, Hero raises to $45.00
Evaluate whether a call might not be a better option, as you...
- …estimate the playability to be good
- …still have options to bluff postflop
- …want to balance a 3-bet call in position.
Tilt resistance
If you haven't looked into 4-bet bluffs yet but you want to include them in your game now, you should heed the following warning:
4-bet bluffs put your tilt resistance to the test.
This move isn't often crowned with success and will push up the variance. On one hand this play will cost you almost a third of your stack, on the other if there are light calls the stacks with marginal hands could wander across the table.
This comes with the danger of provoking a tilt, which can have the following effects:
- The higher variance generally takes you away from your A-game.
- If your opponents' move against 4-bets a lot, you'll be tempted to 4-bet a lot more ("I'll show him...!"), instead of sensibly dropping down a gear ("not really worth it here...).
You might be tempted by your opponents loose game to go broke more loosly and the 4-bet/fold bluff will suddenly become a 4-bet/call play, as your opponent will now only want to give AKo and could have a profitable Hero call against it with 67s.
If you notice spots like this then you should drop down a gear of two. Your entire game shouldn't suffer because of it, you need to evaluate 4-bets correctly and be cool when using them.
| » SUMMARY |
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That's it for the theory. We've tried to look at all the possible points, which is very complicated with this topic. Still, it's better than the default "it depends". In the next two parts we'll be looking at examples in and out of position. |
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